1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to agricultural implements, and, more particularly, to agricultural field tillage implements.
2. Description of the Related Art
Farmers utilize a wide variety of tillage implements to prepare soil for planting. Some such implements include two or more sections coupled together to perform multiple functions as they are pulled through fields by a tractor. For example, a cultivator/harrow, which is capable of simultaneously tilling soil and leveling the tilled soil in preparation for planting. This implement includes a cultivator that is towed by a tractor, and a harrow that is towed by the cultivator. Farmers for years have been searching for an implement that would allow them to convert compacted soil into a level seedbed with a consistent depth for providing excellent conditions for planting of a crop. Another desirable result is that the grass or residual crop material disposed on top of the soil be worked into the seedbed so that it does not interfere with a planting implement subsequently passing through the seedbed. As a standalone implement or coupled with some other implement a farmer might use an implement with a reel having a plurality of blades for breaking clods into smaller sizes and chopping up the debris still remaining on the top of the soil, known as a crumbler basket.
The crumbler basket arrangement can be used to roll behind the rows of tines of a harrow, to flatten the ridges left by the tines and move the residual crop material into the soil to enhance contact with the soil. The crumbler basket is used to provide a firm, level field with coarse soil on top that resists crusting, with the finer soil particles at planting depth for optimum seed-to-soil contact.
The control of the positioning of the crumbler baskets include fixed position settings carried out with pins, bolts or mechanical crank adjustments, which requires the operator to manually adjust the framework coupled to the crumbler baskets to adjust the downward pressure on the crumbler baskets to thereby control the depth of the blades.
What is needed in the art is an easy to use mechanism for the positioning of rolling baskets of an agricultural tillage implement.